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Father Granted Visitation Rights to See Daughter Adopted in Utah without his Knowledge

by Norris Law Group on March 27, 2014

After a long, protracted court battle, Robert Manzanares will finally be able to develop a relationship with his daughter. On March 8, 2014, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that a juvenile court judge in Colorado has concluded that the now-6-year-old girl will continue to live primarily in Utah with the couple who adopted her at birth after she was put up for adoption by her birth mother without Mazanares’ knowledge.

The judge also ruled that Manzanares may play an “important fatherly role” with visitation in both Utah and at his residence in New Mexico. The judge also ordered that Manzanares and the adoptive parents make joint decisions on all “major aspects” of the girl’s life (education, health care, etc.) to ensure “more frequent or continuing contact” between the parties. The judge encouraged Manzanares and the girl’s “psychological parents” to work together in the girl’s best interest, regardless of the “deceitful, fraudulent and outrageous conduct” of the girl’s birth mother.

For Manzanares, the decision was bittersweet: “I get to be my daughter’s father… “That is what I set out to be before she was born. She is going to know me as Daddy and I am going to know her as daughter.”

The background of this case was covered in a previous edition of this blog.

Attorney Graham Norris and his associates at the Norris Law Group serve the residents of Utah County and throughout Utah in the area of divorce. Contact them today at 801-932-1238 or online for a free consultation.

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